Clinical practice of traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis: a literature review.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP). METHODS: We conducted a computer literature search in five databases and comprehensively extracted all kinds of information from each article. Traditional Chinese medicine inheritance support system (TCMISS) V2.5 was adopted to perform association analysis. The effectiveness, safety and methodological quality were analyzed using randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs). RESULTS: A total of 2880 related articles were collected. Finally, 423 articles which included 312 RCTs were included for in-depth analysis. We collected 369 Chinese medicine prescriptions and found that the top three frequently used herbs in the treatment of PMOP were Epimedii Folium (Yinyanghuo), Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata (Shudihuang) and Angelicae Sinensis Radix (Danggui). The top Chinese patent medicine was Gushukang capsule. No serious adverse reaction (AR) had been reported in the Chinese medical treatment group. CONCLUSION: The effectiveness of TCM in treating PMOP needs to be further explored, and the safety is good. Therefore, high-quality evidence is urgently needed to supplement.

[Current status of hyperkalemia in dialysis patients in China].

Objective: To investigate the prevalence and associated factors of hyperkalemia in dialysis patients. Methods: Patients underwent hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) from multi-center databases were recruited from January 2017 to December 2019, and those aged ≥18 years and with dialysis duration ≥3 months were included to analyze the prevalence and related factors of hyperkalemia. Results: A total of 12 364 patients were enrolled in the study, and 6 836 cases were men. The average age of the patients was (51±15) years. Among these patients, 4 230 cases underwent HD while 8 134 received PD. Hyperkalemia was detected in 20.7% (2 554/12 364) of the patients while hypokalemia was found in 17.0%(2 102/12 364) of the patients. Multivariate logistic regression showed that HD (OR=2.25, 95%CI: 1.54-3.30), diabetes mellitus (DM) (OR=1.65, 95%CI: 1.17-2.32), high body mass index (BMI) (OR=1.06, 95%CI: 1.03-1.09), high levels of serum albumin (OR=1.04, 95%CI: 1.01-1.07) and phosphorus (OR=3.12, 95%CI: 2.44-4.00), low levels of serum bicarbonate (OR=0.89, 95%CI: 0.87-0.92), triglycerides (OR=0.76, 95%CI: 0.68-0.85) and creatinine (OR=0.95, 95%CI: 0.90-0.99), usage of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor/Angiotensin Ⅱ receptor antagonist (ACEI/ARB, OR=1.38, 95%CI: 1.11-1.72) and beta-blocker (OR=1.32, 95%CI: 1.07-1.64) were associated with hyperkalemia. Conclusions: Hyperkalemia occurred in 20.7% of the dialysis patients. HD, DM, high BMI, high levels of serum albumin and phosphorus, low levels of serum bicarbonate, triglycerides and creatinine, use of ACEI/ARB were associated with hyperkalemia.

Identification of eggs from different production systems based on hyperspectra and CS-SVM.

1. To identify the origin of table eggs more accurately, a method based on hyperspectral imaging technology was studied. 2. The hyperspectral data of 200 samples of intensive and extensive eggs were collected. Standard normalised variables combined with a Savitzky-Golay were used to eliminate noise, then stepwise regression (SWR) was used for feature selection. Grid search algorithm (GS), genetic search algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimisation algorithm (PSO) and cuckoo search algorithm (CS) were applied by support vector machine (SVM) methods to establish an SVM identification model with the optimal parameters. The full spectrum data and the data after feature selection were the input of the model, while egg category was the output. 3. The SWR-CS-SVM model performed better than the other models, including SWR-GS-SVM, SWR-GA-SVM, SWR-PSO-SVM and others based on full spectral data. The training and test classification accuracy of the SWR-CS-SVM model were respectively 99.3% and 96%. 4. SWR-CS-SVM proved effective for identifying egg varieties and could also be useful for the non-destructive identification of other types of egg.

Antagonistic effects of two herbs in Zuojin Wan, a traditional Chinese medicine formula, on catecholamine secretion in bovine adrenal medullary cells.

In order to research the target of superior efficacy and lesser side effects, combination of herbal materials has been applied to phytotherapy for thousands of years in China and some other countries. Zuojin Wan (ZJW), a famous traditional Chinese medicine formula, is used in treating gastric diseases in China. It is composed of two herbs, Rhizoma Coptidis (RC) and Fructus Evodiae (FE) in the ratio of 6: 1(w/w). In the present study, we examined the effects of ZJW, RC, FE and active components isolated from these herbs on catecholamine (CA) secretion and intracellular calcium ([Ca(2+)](i)) in cultured bovine adrenal medullary cells. Extracts of ZJW and RC and berberine, palmatine and jatrorrhizine, components of RC, all inhibited CA secretion and rise in [Ca(2+)](i) induced by acetylcholine (ACh), veratridine (Ver) and/or 56 mM K(+). On the other hand, extract of FE, evodiamine and rutaecarpine, components of FE, stimulated CA secretion and rise in [Ca(2+)](i) induced by ACh. Furthermore, different proportions of RC and FE caused different responses in CA secretion. The present findings suggest that two herbs in ZJW have opposite effects, i.e., inhibitory effect of RC and stimulatory effect of FE, on CA secretion induced by acetylcholine in cultured bovine adrenal medullary cells.

Heat stress prevents mitochondrial injury in ATP-depleted renal epithelial cells.

The events that precipitate cell death and the stress proteins responsible for cytoprotection during ATP depletion remain elusive. We hypothesize that exposure to metabolic inhibitors damages mitochondria, allowing proapoptotic proteins to leak into the cytosol, and suggest that heat stress-induced hsp72 accumulation prevents mitochondrial membrane injury. To test these hypotheses, renal epithelial cells were transiently ATP depleted with sodium cyanide and 2-deoxy-D-glucose in the absence of medium dextrose. Recovery from ATP depletion was associated with the release into the cytosol of cytochrome c and apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF), proapoptotic proteins that localize to the intermitochondrial membrane space. Concomitant with mitochondrial cytochrome c leak, a seven- to eightfold increase in caspase 3 activity was observed. In controls, state III mitochondrial respiration was reduced by 30% after transient exposure to metabolic inhibitors. Prior heat stress preserved mitochondrial ATP production and significantly reduced both cytochrome c release and caspase 3 activation. Despite less cytochrome c release, prior heat stress increased binding between cytochrome c and hsp72. The present study demonstrates that mitochondrial injury accompanies exposure to metabolic inhibitors. By reducing outer mitochondrial membrane injury and by complexing with cytochrome c, hsp72 could inhibit caspase activation and subsequent apoptosis.

The effects of Escherichia coli and its endotoxin on amyloidogenesis in ducks.

To compare the effects of two inocula on the induction of amyloidosis in normal and thymectomized ducks, 180 normal and 50 thymectomized ducks were injected intravenously weekly for up to 16 weeks with either crude endotoxin or crude whole cell extract of a virulent strain of Escherichia coli (O78), and another 60 ducks were injected with normal saline as study control. During the first 5 weekly injections, the initial doses of inducing agents were the smallest and then adjusted upward to the maximum study doses (1 or 2 mg/bird of crude endotoxin and 15-18 x 10(8) bacteria/bird of crude whole cell extract), which were then maintained over the course of the study. The incidence of amyloid deposition were: 50.00% (25/50) for thymectomized ducks that received 1 mg/bird/week of crude endotoxin, 61.67% (37/60) for intact ducks that received 15 x 10(8)-18 x 10(8) bacteria (crude whole cell extract)/bird/week, 53.33% (32/60) for intact ducks received 2 mg/bird/week of crude endotoxin, and 63.33% (38/60) for intact ducks received 1 mg/bird/week of crude endotoxin. The results suggest that crude whole cell extract and crude endotoxin induced amyloidosis in ducks at similar rates and that, in ducks, thymectomy has no appreciable effect on the occurrence of amyloidosis.